Rosenberg supporting Clinton, says his district is with Sanders

Massachusetts Senate President Stanley Rosenberg seen presiding over business in the legislative chamber. (State House News Service photo)

STATE HOUSE — Add Senate President Stanley Rosenberg to the list of Hillary Clinton supporters in the Bay State. The leader of the Senate on Tuesday morning said the former secretary of state has reached out to him and he is backing her campaign.

“I like Hillary Clinton. I am supporting her, much to the consternation of my district. They’re with Bernie (Sanders), of course,” the Amherst Democrat said on Boston Herald Radio.

When asked by hosts Hillary Chabot and Jaclyn Cashman if he had formally announced an endorsement of Clinton and when he chose to support her campaign, Rosenberg said, “Oh, I don’t know, I sent a check somewhere along the way.”

The air of inevitability that some say surrounds Clinton’s campaign, Rosenberg said, is something that other people are ascribing to her and something that she is working hard to push back on.

“I never consider anybody inevitable, you know, the voters ultimately will decide and they’re really quite insightful when push comes to shove,” he said. “I think as we get further on into the campaign people will focus more and more on the real issues because a lot’s hanging in the balance and things like emails and whatever whatever are going to take less and less attention.”

Massachusetts voters in 2008 chose Clinton over Barack Obama, by a 56 percent to 40.6 percent margin, in the state’s Democratic presidential primary, before Obama went on to win the election.

Rosenberg, whose district includes the northern part of the Interstate 91 corridor, said many of his constituents support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, noting that his traditionally-liberal district previously voted for Jesse Jackson and George McGovern.

“I have nothing against Bernie Sanders, I think he’s a terrific guy and the fact that 20,000 people showed up in Boston to hear him speak, I think is just spectacular,” he said.

And though Rosenberg said he will “probably” go to New Hampshire to canvass for Clinton ahead of the nation’s first primary, he said he likes that the self-described socialist senator from Vermont is drawing attention to issues like income inequality.

“I love what Bernie is saying and he is moving the conversation in the direction it needs to move in nationally because he’s talking about income insecurity, he’s talking about the fact that 80 percent of the people go home with a paycheck that either doesn’t support their family no matter how hard they’re working or is not advancing their standard of living,” Rosenberg said. “There is a lot of worry in this country and Bernie Sanders is speaking to that.”

He added, “Well, but so is (Clinton). But she speaks it in a different way. She has a different style and a different approach.”

Rosenberg joins Attorney General Maura Healey, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, and Congressmen Stephen Lynch and Joe Kennedy in endorsing the former first lady, senator and secretary of state for president.